Vacuum fuel-feed device



W. H. MUZZY.

VACUUM FUEL FEED DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED mus, !919.

1,335,792. Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

I I l i showing a modification in minor "the discharge pipe. 2].

WILLIAM H. MUZZY, OF CHICAGO,

SPEEDOMET'ER CORPORATION, VIRGINIA.

ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 STEWART-WARNER OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF VACUUM FUEL-FEED DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 1920.

Application filed July 3; 1919. Serial No. 308.516.

To 071 "001mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. Muzzy, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usctul Improvements in Vacuum FucLFeed Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, 't'ormmg a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved construction of vacuum tucl teed device. particularly with a view to making it possible to obtain in the operation of the device, the intake and outflow oi' the liquid fuel at short intervals. and t'or other specific purposes which are set out in the specifications. It consists in the elcmerits and features of construction shown and described, as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical axial section of a vacuum fuel feed tank, so called, embodying this invention.

Fig. 2 is adetail elevation of certain parts respects.

In the structure shown in the drawings, 1 is the main outer shell comprisii'ig the reserve chamber of the vacuum tank. 2 is the vacuum chamber suspended within the main outer shell or reserve chamber, 1, a common and familiar method of construction in this respect being employed, involving Hanging the'two elements, 1 and 2, for the purpose of lapping their flanges, 1 and 2. upon. each other with intervening, packing ring 3, a cap, 4. lapping the upper flange, 2. a clamping ring, 4, being em loyed below the lower flange for engaging t io bolt, 5, which binds the parts together. An atmosphere connection is afforded at l". to admit atmospheric pressure at all times to the reserve chamber, and an upwai'dlyextending pipe, 6,. shown in dotted lines may be connected at this air inlet so as to conduct to a distance any vapors which may be generated by overheating of the chamber, preventing their discharge in the vicinity of the device and thereby in the vicinity of the hot engine which is served. 20 is the discharge fitting from the vacuum serve chamber. 1, the same down for terminating for discharge in the lower part of the reserve chamber. in which leading to the carbureter extends upwardly to a point a. little chamber. 2, into the re-.

being extended an In 11 above the upper side of the discharge port which is controlled by the check valve, '22, so that that valve is at all times submerged in the liquid, which tends to prevent any air leak therethrough, as is liable to occur it the valve is not submerged.

6 is the suction connection to the vacuum chamber which it may be understood lcaiils to any usual or convenient source of suetiou. such as the intake manifold of the engine to he served, (not shown) T is the liquid inlet connection which is here. shown. having the elongated cylindrical port, 7. with a Haring or funnel-shaped approach thereto as shown at 7*, and cvlindrical ter-- minal for receiving the plug, 7, having a threaded aperture, 7, for connection of the liquid conduit leading from a low level main supply tank, not shown. 7 is a screen for preventing the entrance of dirt with the liquid. The liquid inlet valve, 9. has a cylindrical elongation, 9". adapted to operate substantially piston-wise, but not necessarily with a very close fit in the cylindrical elongated inlet port, 7; and said valve has its stem, 9", extending down through. the port, and provided with a stop, 9, for engagement of the lever, 11. hereinafter more particu larly described, which opcrativcly connects the liquid inlet valve with the air inlet valve. 8 is the air'inlct connection having an inlet port surrounded by a flaring seat as shown at 8, in which the air inlet valve, 10, seats downwardly and inwardly with respect to the vacuum chamber. Thestem, 10, of the air inlet valve extends down through the port and has an abutment, 10". constituting a stop for engagement of the ofl'set lug, '11, of the lever, 11. which is ful crumed ona lug, 4 projecting downwardly trom'the cap, 4, the left hand end of the lever being apertured for the stem, 9*, of the liquid inlet valve, 9, the stop, 9, b ing:

above the lever, and the stem being devoid a of any stop below the lever, so that ii lever operates only for lifting and not for depressing the liquid inlet valve. Likewise, the stem, 10, of the'air inlet valve, 10,,has no sto'pbelow the lug. -1'l,.trom which the stem extends, .softhat the lever engages the stem only for lifting or opening the air inlet valve, ahd cannot 0 erate for depress ing it or closing it, excetet as it withdraws from the s op, 10, to permit the va ve to be seated by gravity! Upon the stem, it)", of the air inlet valve there is carried mounted on its lower end and adjustable up and down along said stem, a float, 12, which when submerged in the liquid in the chamber operates as a buoy with a tend ency to uphold or nplil't the air inlet valve, and thereby operates to assist its opening when the liquid level in the chamber is such as to wholly or partially submerge said float. When the liquid subsides so to render the weight ol the float, l2, operative,

said float hands by its weight to 101d the t operates, therefore, as a quickener for the opening movement of the valve, because the liquid level in the chain bcr must rise so as to submerge it to some extent beyond the depth to which it would sink in the liquid by its weight and that of the-valve and stem carried by it. before the accumulated buoyancy would start the valve. l t. away from its seat against more or less suction tending to hold it thereon, and when it does start, its movement would be quick. The left hand arm of the lever from its fulcrum on the lug, i, to the point of cnga'genient with the stop, 9", on the stem of the liquid inlet valve, is longer than its arm from its fulcrum to the point of engagementot' the lug. 11, with the stop, 10, on the. air inlet valve stem. The lever is extended to the right beyond the engagement of the lug, 11. with the stop of the air inlet 'alve, and at it right hand end there is suspended from it a weight, 13 which is of comparatively light material. as, cork, adapted to be buoyed by the liquid in the chamher,-that is, to have its weight neutralized by its submersion in the liquid to some definite point in its height. This weight, it will be Observed. operates against the tendency of the valve to become sealed by gravity, and it is designed that when unsubmerged. said weight shall be adequate to substantially counterbalance the said valve. 9, and its stem, Whether or not it accurately couliterbalam'cs each part is not material, its purpose being to offset their weight to a certain extent. screen inserted into the outer end of the air inlet fitting, 8, to prevent the admission of dust which would defeat the accurate seatvalve seated.

' ing of the valve. The operation of this d1 vieeis as follows:

The liquid inlet connection being properly connected with the main low level liquid supply tank, and suction being oierative through the suction connection, 6, be ore any liquid enter the vacuum chamber, 2, the valves will be in the position shown in Fig. l, the air inlet valve, to, being held upon its seat by gravity, the uusubmerged float, l2, assisting in so holding it. The liquid inlet valve, 9, will be held oll' its seat by the weight, li-l, operating through the lever, 11, and liquid will enterthrough the liquid in- H is a stem or I let comiection filling up the chamber, 2, until the weight, 13-5, is suilieiently submerged to so far neutralize its weight as to permit the liquid inlet valve, 9, to descend by grav ity tova rd its seat, the stop, 9", on the valve stem, 9", on said liquid inlet valve, engagiiqg, the lever, l1, and rocking said lever to litt the lug, ll, upward toward and uh :n-a'tely against the stop, 10", on the air inlet valve, 10. Thesame amount of movement which brings said lug against said stop ln'ingsthe lower margin of the cylindrical extension, 9, of the inlet valve, 9, to the entrance end of the cylindrical extension of the liquid inlet port, and thereupon, and even somewhat before actual entrance of the valve extension into the port extension, atmospheric pressure operating upon the valve, 9, against the diminished pressure or partial vacuum con dition in the vacuum chamber, 2, forces said valve in the elongated port to its seat: that is to say, the valve is sucked to its seat prae tic-ally instantly upon its lower end roach. lug the entrance to the cylindrical extension of the liquid inlet port: Bearing in mind that thetwo valves, 9 and ll are exposed to the same conditions of full atmospheric pressure on the outside (except as the presence of a liquid column in the pipe leading to the valves, 9, when the device is in continuous operation may slightl ofl'set atmospheric pressure) and diminished pressure or partial vacuum at the inner side, and that by the connection between them afforded by the lever, 11, their inward or seating movements are put in opposition to each other, it will be understood that upon the liquid inlet valve being thus sucked to its seat as described, it will force the air inlet valve oft" its seat against the suction tending to hold it thereon, by virtue either of the lever advantage which is given to the liquid inlet valve by connection with the longer arm of the lever, 11, as compared with the length of said lever from its fulcrum to. the point of engagement of the lug, 11, with the stop, 10", of the air inlet valve, or by reason of the excess of area of the liquid inlet valve and port over the air inlet valve and port; and in the construction shown, both of these advantages in favor of the liquid inlet valve insure that the air inlet valve will be opened instantly by the sucking to its seat of the liquid inlet valve as described. In addi tion to the advantages mentioned inf-aver of the liquid inlet valve as against the air inlet valve in respect to seating movement, it will be observed that the rise of the liquid in the vacuum chamber, submerging the float. 12, attached to the air inlet valve,

causes that float by its buoyancy to oonstitute a further means tending to lift and open the air inlet valve, 10, while at the same time. the same cause, namely, the rise of the liquid and consequent subniergence of the weight, 13, removes that weight vfrom the cate cry of an opposition to the movement of tfie lever, 11, in the direction for, seating the liquid inlet valve. The result is that no movement of the valve occurs until the liquid in the chamber has risen sufficiently to neutralize the down-pull of the weight, 13, upon the lever, 11, by submergence; and as soon as this submergence occurs to such an extent as to permit the liquid inlet valve, 9, to begin to descend toward its seat, such movement of said valve continues, relatively slowly as the liquid rises until the lower edgeof the extension, 9, reaches the margin of the cylindrical extension of the port, and then the completion of its movement is practically instantaneous as described, causim the air inlet valve to be snapped open, a: mitting atmospheric ressure freely, and substantially neutralizin the suction operating through the relatively small suction port, (1. Upon this reversal of the relative positions of the two valves and the resulting dominance of atmospheric pressure in the vacuum chamber, the liquid will be discharged therefrom by gravity past the valve, 22,,into the reserve chamber. But it will be observed that the completion of the seating movement of the li uid inlet valve, 9, will have lifted the weig t, 13, somewhat out of the liquid, thereby restoring it to some effective wei t; and at the same time the float, 12, wi l have been somewhat lifted out of the liquid and its weight in part at least now resting on the lever, 11, by the engagement of the stop, 10", with the lug, 11, is added to that of the weight, 13; and a very slight further subsidence of the liquid, adding further to the emergence of the weight, 13, and float, 11, and thereby to the effective weight oierating on'the lever to cause the left hand end of the lever to swing' up and lift the liquid inlet valve away from its seat, while the right hand end, descending, allows the air inlet valve to become seated by gravity; and thereu .on the previous process will be repeated. hus the. alternation between liquid inflow and liquid discharge will occur rapidly, that is, at short intervals, when the conditions are such that the liquid will flow away from the vacuum chamber prom tly. When no liquid is being withdrawn rom the reserve chamber to the carburetor the reversal of the valves,--seating the liquid inlet fiilvc and opening the air inlet valve,

the rise of leve in the vacuum chamber to the height for producing. this operation will cause no liquid to flow out of the vacuum chamber, notwithstanding the admission of atmospheric pressure to dominate the suction; and the reversal of the valves will not occur until there is a withdrawal of liquid through the carburetor. It will be said, therefore. that the rapidity of the alternatioh of dominance of suction and atmospherie pressure in thevacuum chamber, correspom s to the demand for liquid fuel to supply the carbureter, and will be rapid when that demand is constantly taking liq uid from the reserve chamber so fast that it can be supplied through the liquid fuel inlet pipe connections from the main low tank to the vacuum chamber.

It will be evident that the function of tlie float, 12, is only auxiliary for somewhat hastening the opening movement of the air inlet valve, and that it operates for slightly retarding or slowing up the seating movement of that valve upon the subsidence of the liquid level in the vacuum chamber; that is, it tends to hold the air valve open longer, opening it quicker and closing it later, than would otherwise be done, thus somewhat increasing the ti me allowed for outflow of the liquid from the vacuum chamber to the reserve chamber in the intervals of dominance of suction. Substantially the same eliect may be obtained by substituting for this float valve a mere disk, 12,,'as shown in Fig. 2, the float being submerged in the liquid, will, by its area, tend to check the descending movement of the valve toward its seat, acting somewhat after the manner of a dashpot.

Certain details of the construction merit mention. The liquid inlet valve, 9, has its stem very loosely engaged with the lever, 1.1, as indicated by its tilted position shown in Fig. 1, and for this reason,that is, by reason of the loose connection,-the valve will tend to lean over and tilt away from its seat, as shown in Fig. 1; and the liquid inlet fitting or connection, 7, has the funnel-shape shown, with the flaring portion, 7", in which the valve will lean when lifted off its seat,

and along which it will be readily guided to higher this float is positioned with respect to the' weight, 13, the less the level of the liquid will have to fall to cause the air inlet valve to seat; while, on the other and, the level to which the liquid must rise in order to cause the liquid inlet valve to se and the air inlet valve to be opened, is governed substantially by the position vertically of the weight, 13. The float, 12, may be readily adjusted on the stem; 10, by the operator withdrawing the screen, 14, from the upper end of the air inlet connection, 8 taking hdld of the stem, 10", and lifting it with the flout valve until the float becomes engaged with the under edge of the lever, 11, whereupon, by means of the valve as a head or handle to the stein, l0,the latter may be screwed down or up through the float so as vary its vertical position on the stem It will be noticed that the stop, 10", is of such size as to pass th rough the air inlet port to permit the operation above described.

I claim i 1,, In a vacuum fuel feed device comprising a vacuum chamber into which liquid is lifted] from a lower source by tttllltmpl'lfil'ltt pressure and from which it is delivered by gravity flow, in combination With a vacuum chamber, a suction connection for producing partial vacuum therein; a liquid inlct con auction and an atmosphmn inlct connection; a valve at the liquid inlet port and a valve ut thc atmosphere inlet port, both said valves seating inwardly, and operating connections between the two valves by which theii re spective inwardly seating movements are up posed to each other; the valves and connections being proportioned to give thr liquid inlet valve dominance over the air inlet valve in respect to sea-ting movement.

2. In the construction defined in claim 1, the operating connections comprising a lever, the liquid inlet valve being operatively connected with the longer arm of said lever connection, for giving to said liquid inlet valve the dominance over the other valve in respect to the seating movement.

3. In the construction defined in claim 1, the liquid inlet port and valve being of greater ur -1 than the air inlet port and valve, for giving to the liquid inlet valve the dominance over the other valve in respect to seating movement.

4. In the construction defined in claim 1, the liquid inlet port and valve being of gieater area than the atmosphere inlet port and valve, the operating connection comprising a lever and said liquid inlet valve being operatively connected with the longer arm of said lever connection for giving to said liquid inlet valve the dominance over the other valve in respect to the seating movement. y e

5. In the structure defined in claim 1, both the liquid inlet valve and the air inlet valve being positioned with respect to their seats for seating gravity. the operating connections being adapted onily for lifting and not for qepreesing said vanes.

65. In e construction defined in claim 1., the liqu'd inlet port being axially elongated in one d motion from the valve seat, and the valve being adapted to. enter and axially traverse said elongation before encountering the sect. i

7. In the construction defined in claim 1, the liquid inlet port bcing cylindrically elongated in one direction from the valve sent and the valve being adapted to enter and traverse the elon ation before encoun' tcrin the seat, the va ve having a cylindrical e ongation in advance of a seating face or shoulder and adapted to enter and traverse the port to the extent of said elongation before encountering the seat.

8. In the construction defined in claim I, the liquid inlet port being cylindrically elongated and the said liquid inlet valve having a corresponding cylindrical elongation adapted for substantially piston-wise movement of the valvc into the port for a substantial distance in the seating movement of said valve.

9, In a vacuum fuel feed device comprising a vacuum chmnber into which liquid is lifted from a lower source by atmospheric pressure and from which it is delivered by gravity flow, in combination with a vacuum chamber, suction connection for producing partial vacuum in said chamber; a liquid inlet connection and an atmosphere inlet con nection; a valve at the liquid inlet port and u valve at the atmosphere inlet port, both said valves seating inwardly, and lever clonnections between the two valves by which their respective inwardly-seating movements are opposed to each other, the lever connections as to both valves being adapted to give the valves opening movement only, and a weight carried by the lever connection for operating the lever by its down movement to tend to open the liquid inlet valve, and positioned for being submerged in the liquid in.the chamber when the liquid rises to a predetermined level; whereby the tendency of said Weight to operate for opening the liquid inlet valve is neutralized while the liquid in the chamber stands at or about such predetermined level.

10. In a vacuum fuel feed device comprising a vacuum chamber into which liquid is lifted from a lower source by atmospherie pressure and from which it is delivered by gravity flow, in combination with a vacuum chamber: a suction connection for producing; partial vacuum therein; a llquld inlet eminence :mden atmos here inl connection; a vein atthe liqui inlet port, and a valve at the atmosphere, inlet port, both said valves seating inwardly; a, over connection between the two valves by which their respective inwardly seating movements are opposed to each other, and means operating' on the lever oonnectionfor opposing the seatin movement of theliquid inlet valve in ad ition to the opposition of the air inlet valve tharetotat a predlitermined low level of liquid'in the chamber.

11. In thecon'struction defined in the last claim foregoing, the means for flCltlltlpnfll opposition to the seating of the liquid inlet valve being a weight carried by theleyer in position to be submerged-by the liquid in the chamliei' for neutralizing its weight action at a predetermined high level of the liquid in the chamber.

12. -In the construction defined in claim 1, means'iorkiving the liquid inlet valve dominent'e mfg; the air inlet valve in respect to seating movement consistin in a lever con nection between the two vaves having lost motion for permitting the liquid inlet valve to make a near approach to its seat before cngug'emepjt -between the lever and the at mosphere inlet valve makes effective the opposition to each other of the seating movemcnts of the two valves.

13. In the construction defined in claim 1, means for giving the liquid inlet valve doininunce over the all inlet valve in respect to seating movement, said liquid inlet valve port being cylindrically elongated and the liquid inlet valve having a corresponding: ovlindi'iml elongntion adapted for a substantially piston-Wise movement of the vain: in the port for a substantial distance in"'its seating movement, the operating connection between the two valves having lost motion for permitting the liquid inlet valve to approach its seat for entry of the cylindi'ieal necrion extension of the valve in the cylindrical elongation oithe port before the engagement between the lever and the atmosphere inlet valve by which the opposition of the seating movement of the two valves to each other is made efi'ective occurs.

14. In the construction defined in claim 1., means ogei'ating upon the o ei'ating' conetween the two waves gfonpariiully offsetting the force of th seatin movement of the liquid inlet valve,'said o setting means being subject to the, buoyant action of the liquid in the chamhelywherehy it is rendered incfl'ective at a predetermined level of liquid in the chamber, and a float connected with the air inlet valve for buoy ing said valve against its tendency to seat by gravity, said float being positioned .for,

snhmergcncc in the liquid in the chamber at substantially the level at which the liquid valve offsetting means is rendered ineffective by subniei'geucc.

In testimony whereof. I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 18th day of June, AQD. 1919.

WILLIAM H. MUZZY. 

